Osteospermum ecklonis cultivar Seikimora.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Osteospermum plant, botanically known as Osteospermum ecklonis, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Seikimoraxe2x80x99.
The new Osteospermum is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Gunma-den, Japan. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Osteospermum cultivars with interesting floret colors.
The new Osteospermum was discovered as a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of the Osteospermum ecklonis cultivar Seikilrem, U.S. Plant Patent application filed concurrently.
The new Osteospermum was discovered and selected by the Inventor in April, 1996, as a single flowering plant within a population of plants of the parent cultivar in a controlled environment in Gunma-den, Japan.
Asexual reproduction of the new Osteospermum by terminal vegetative cuttings was first conducted in Gunma-den, Japan on Jun. 1, 1996. Asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Osteospermum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Seikimora has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Seikimoraxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Seikimoraxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Osteospermum:
1. Compact, mounded and outwardly spreading plant habit.
2. Freely branching growth habit.
3. Freely flowering habit.
4. Orange-colored ray florets and dark purple-tipped disc florets.
Plants of the new Osteospermum differ primarily from plants of the parent, the cultivar Seikilrem, in ray floret coloration.
Plants of the new Osteospermum can be compared to plants of the cultivar Akope, disclosed in U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 09/722,804. However, plants of the new Osteospermum are not as vigorous and have smaller inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Akope. In addition, plants of the new Osteospermum and the cultivar Akope differ in floret coloration.